Favor
by control of chaos
Summary: Alex still owed a favor to K-Unit, and they could use it. Sequel to Safehouse.
1. Chapter 1

_Favor_ is the sequel to _Safehouse_. This isn't completed yet, so I have only a vague idea of the amount of parts to this story. _Favor_ might take a little longer to complete than its predecessor, but I should have the full story within at least two weeks. As always, R&R! ~ SamayouTamashi

* * *

For the third time that night, Wolf growled into the mic embedded in his watch's wristband, "Where is Alpha team's backup?" but the message got across that he was implying, "Give me some f***ing backup!"

The reply crackled back, "Gamma team is not responding to our calls. Repeat, Gamma is not responding."

Even though the answer had not changed during the half hour since he had last called in, he still fumed angrily. He aimed and fired three more shots one after another at the enemy before responding. "Then bring in a new unit. I need someone to cover us, dammit! We can't move in our current condition."

Static filled his ears before a short answer. "Affirmative. You have new backup on the way." The voice was calm, but underneath was surprise and confusion as if he hadn't expected to be answering that way. "Delta will be replacing Gamma, but wh-?"

Another voice interrupted the speaker's. "Delta is already on site," said a distinctly feminine-sounding tone. "Half of Delta is already on standby and the other half is en route. Contact in six minutes."

"I need the radio code for Delta," Wolf started to say, asking for the numbers that would allow him to speak with the new half of his team.

"Denied," the woman stated unemotionally. She must be one of the office sorts, he thought. They were pros at imitating robots. Rumors were always flying around that they really _were_ robots speaking in place of the people to make them sound so disconnected.

"Then how am I supposed to communi-"

The woman continued speaking without any evidence of having heard him. "Delta is acting on its own and they have no radios to communicate with. When Delta two arrives, they will contact you, not vice-versa. Do you copy?"

"But I need-"

"_Do you copy?_"

"...Yeah, I copy."

"Very well." The irritatingly calm voice replied. "Over and out."

Wolf flicked the channel off, back in his fully pissed mode. He took a deep breath and turned to the rest of the unit. For now, they were bunkered down in an abandoned and bullet-riddled apartment with a perfect view of the rest of the town for sniping.

"So? Where's Gamma? When are they getting here?" Eagle spouted eagerly, bouncing on his toes from a mix of adrenaline and the natural energy of a five-year old. It was a dangerous concoction that should be avoided in anyone old enough to drink. There were strict rules in K-Unit about what Eagle could and couldn't have; both alcohol and sugar in any form were banned. Violators were congratulated on surviving if they got out of the room alive.

"They aren't."

Eagle and Snake slumped back in their seats. Falcon had been shot twice, above and below his left ankle, on their way into the small and mostly-abandoned town. K- and T-Unit were responsible for taking the town back from a growing terrorist group responsible for a half-dozen bombings so far. Their entrance hadn't gone over well, but they had thought themselves lucky with only one temporarily down. If T-Unit, or Gamma as they were supposed to be referring to them as, was MIA, they were likely beyond help. Dead, or worse.

"But we _do_ have backup on the way, right?" Snake spoke up, from re-wrapping his teammate's mangled ankle.

"Yeah," his face twisted into a grimace, "I think."

"You think?"

"Something weird was going on over at command base. A different speaker took over the conversation, saying that Delta would be sent in as backup," a shot rang through the room and Wolf returned fire. "But," he put in a new cartridge, and no other shots were heard, "she said we couldn't communicate with them 'cause they have no radios."

"That's insanity at its limits," Snake argued.

Eagle nodded, backing him up. "You don't send out a unit without some method of communication! There are _at least_ six rules about that. How else are we supposed to speak with them?"

Falcon spoke up quietly, battling the drugs Snake had shot him full of to keep him from noticing the pain. "What if Delta wasn't an SAS unit?"

With a snort, Eagle shook his head, "What kind of organization would the government support if they didn't have a way to contact their teams?"

Snake's head came up quickly. "MI6."

Silence encompassed the unit's borrowed apartment. "MI5 too. You can't send spies out with direct links to command," Falcon said, voicing what everyone had been thinking.

"It has to be MI6, though," Wolf responded. "MI5 wouldn't send their teams as backup for SAS. They typically only have basic skills in firearms and wouldn't be put out in the open field."

Being aptly named, Falcon heard a nearly silent click and shouted at K-Unit, "Down!"

The team ducked, and another round tore above their heads. Eagle, nearest to the balcony, was on his elbows firing back as soon as the imminent danger passed. "How many you hearing?" he directed at Falcon.

Everyone fell quiet as their teammate got up on his elbow to listen, his ears perking up and sharp eyes trying to make out shapes behind the curtains. "At least...five. They're primarily to the left," he pointed, "of that bar thingy right there."

Eagle, by far the best shooter in the group, followed Falcon's aim and aimed for the area around the three blurred shadows he could sort-of see. Cries of anguish followed his five shots, but he let out two more just to be on the safe side. "Any more?" Falcon listened carefully, but shook his head.

"But how could MI6 so _conveniently_ have a team located within this area?" Eagle said as he switched gears. "We're in the middle of nowhere**!"

"It's 'cause they're all ninjas, didn't you know that?" Falcon laughed weakly.

"True, Fox was all into the dark clothes and sneaking around before he joined," Wolf said, rolling his eyes at the sudden change of topic. It was like the two were kindergarteners pretending to be soldiers.

Snake whispered loudly to Eagle, "And if you checked his belt, he was hiding his shurikens right beside his cell phone.

Everyone who had known Fox laughed at the thought of him sneaking around in the shadows, swords on his back and looking distinctly Japanese. Even Falcon had to cough back a snort. Former SAS men just don't go well with the image of ninjas.

The first to calm down, Snake asked the unit leader, "When is Delta going to make contact? If he doesn't get that ankle fixed up soon, Falcon won't be able to walk right for a long time."

"Six minutes when I talked to command, so somewhere around three or four now."

"No, that's not going to be good enough," Eagle said, suddenly back in serious-mode. "Listen." The cough of a silencer was evident in the quiet.

"Yeah, but who's being shot at?" Falcon brought up. "I don't think that's a terrorist."

True to his word, the terrorist cell seemed to be retaliating at a shooter they couldn't see. Loud shouting in Arabic could be heard from across the street before another cough sent them scrambling for cover.

"Then, who's doing the shooting? Delta still has a good three minutes till they're coming," Wolf said calmly. "A third party, possibly?"

"Possibly, but then wouldn't they be shooting at both of us?" Snake answered.

"Wait," he hushed everyone and after a moment said, "The shooting stopped." The rapid fire of a gun punctuated his sentence. "Or he's decided that the silencer is useless," he finished lamely.

Snake asked quietly, "Do we try to move, or wait for Delta?"

"We wait," he firmly decided. "If Delta's backed by MI6, they'll manage to get here." K-Unit was silent as they determined where the shooting was. "Falcon?"

"It's a single shooter," he said. "Multiple firearms, but none of them are large caliber. Moving fast, but I can't hear any footsteps. And," Falcon paused and slowly tried to sit up while mentally figuring the trajectory, "I think he's moving this way."

Eagle face-palmed himself. "Do we just have the worst luck or does someone really _really _hate us. Honestly!"

"Shh! I think he's within hearing range now."

Wolf and Eagle were crouched to either side of the balcony, WaltherP99 and Baretta*** up and fingers ready to press the triggers at a moment's notice. Snake pulled his own gun from its holster, but in his right hand were a pair of throwing knives. While the Walther would shoot faster, he had more faith in his aim with the knives. Falcon trained his sights on the door as he propped himself up on one elbow and avoided moving his injured foot.

Yet it was still sudden, despite their best efforts, when a tall Arab in a dusty white wrap leapt on to the ledge of the balcony, swinging his foot to knock Eagle's gun from his hand and somehow stole the ammo clip from Wolf's. With a flick of his wrist, Snake neatly threw the pair of knives at his head. While they didn't miss, neither did they hit. The Arab swept a hand up to catch them, sending one at Falcon's gun to knock it from his hand.

Then he held up his hands in surrender.

K-Unit blinked. "I'm sorry, but are you surrendering?" Eagle asked, shell-shocked after the incredible display of ninja-ness.

"It would look like that, wouldn't it?" They were all back on-guard against some sudden trick, but the Arab coughed to cover up a burst of laughter. "Loosen up, seriously!" He lowered his hands and took down the hood covering his face. Wolf was about to thwack himself in the head for his stupidity at not realizing that he was speaking in perfect English, despite the Arabic accent.

"Delta one, reporting in," said a grinning Alex Rider.

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked part one! It's a little short, admittedly, but I needed to cut it off somewhere to start on part two. This seemed like an ideal place. The next part will definitely be longer. Also, check out my profile to answer my poll.

*Falcon was introduced in the epilogue of _Safehouse_, and I decided that I liked my OC enough to let him continue into _Favor_.

**No, the middle of nowhere is where _I_ live. Seriously. Everyone out here agrees. If it were up to me, the sign welcoming you to our 'town' would say "Welcome to Nowhere. Population: Not sure, we have to find them first."

***The guns haven't changed since _Safehouse_, except Falcon's, since he was never mentioned. Another side note, but Snake also has the basic P99. They're standard issue, so most units are equipped with them.

Remember to review!


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2 of _Favor_. You should note that this was done while I was supposed to be doing my Pre-Calculus, so appreciate that I love all you reviewers more than my math. _BTW_, that doesn't happen often. R&R and _please read the **important notice** at the bottom before you leave_! ~ SamayouTamashi

* * *

"What?" Falcon stuttered, getting himself propped up on his elbow and wincing as his weight shifted to press against his left ankle. "You're like eighteen!"

"Fifteen," he corrected for the hundredth time in his career, "but yes, I am undercover as Delta one for today."

Snake looked over at him curiously as he retrieved his throwing knives from Alex and Falcon. "How did you get here so fast? We were told six minutes, and you managed it in half."

"Heh," he ruffled a hand through his hair, some of the dark black dust coming off as he did. "To tell the truth, I've been here the whole time…just," he pointed at a window in the building across the street two blocks down, "working for the other side. The CIA and MI6 wanted some info on the new terrorist group," he hurriedly continued as Wolf swung his head around, "so-"

"MI6 sent you?" the unit leader assumed.

"Good guess, but no. I'm kinda on loan to the CIA right now for some assistance they gave me in Russia. MI6 sent Delta two as my backup."

At this, Eagle laughed. "On _loan_? They actually talk about their own agents that way?"

"Yeah, well it's not the worst part by far. So moving on with the story, I've been over there pretending to snipe at you and sorryboutthatheadshotWolf-"

"Hey!" The shot had grazed his head just enough to sting.

"-but once I realized it was you guys, I figured that with the information for the CIA already collected, I wouldn't need to hold up my cover. I rang up MI6, told them I was backing you up-to their immense irritation-and had Ben pulled in."

Falcon frowned. "Ben?"

"Fox," Wolf clarified for him. "Former SAS and the spot you are filling."

"Oh."

"And here I thought he had been promoted to a paper-pushing bureaucrat like the rest of them," Snake said.

Alex had to laugh. "Just don't tell him you said that, but he does wind up doing paperwork half the time anyway. Hates it, too."

"You get to work with him often then?"

"Of course. Senior field agents always work with the newbie until they're completely acclimated to the job."

A brief moment of awkward silence passed as Falcon stuttered over some kind of random words, having just realized that not only was the fifteen year-old in front of him working for MI6, but that he was also the highest ranked agent in the country.

"So how does Ben get along with that?" Eagle said with a grin for his former teammate's humorous situation.

He answered with a wry smile. "The real question should be how _I_ can stand it. It's so difficult trying to go through his weapons training, work on languages with him _and_ going through with missions all at the same time. At least he learns quicker than some of the others I've been stuck with."

Wolf just shook his head. "Senior field agent? That makes you fourth in the chain of command?"

"Third," he cheerfully amended, "with the highest clearance level they could pull out of their sleeves for me."

After puzzling it over, Snake groaned. "So if both Blunt and Jones are killed or retire, then you're in charge of the entire MI6 operation?"

"Yep."

"Oh god, that's horrifying to imagine."

"Ben agreed with you completely when he was informed, and I can imagine that it would be quite awkward for the Prime Minister to explain that to everyone."

"Wait, hold on a second," protested Falcon. "You're fifteen, so how the hell did MI6 even get around recruiting you?"

"Illegally."

"Yeah, but then…what?"

Alex sighed as he explained, "There are no documents anywhere that formalize my agreements and work with MI6. Until I turn eighteen, they have to use bribes and blackmail to have me do their work since I can't legally be paid for any services rendered. It's…confusing to say the least."

"No kidding."

"But back to the situation at hand," he pulled the Sig from an invisible pocket inside the caverns of his wrap, "I'd duck if I were you, Eagle." As the soldier dropped to the floor, he picked off the sniper he'd felt subconsciously as a tingle pricking the hairs on his neck. The Colt appeared just as mysteriously in his left hand. A couple shots were fired in his direction, hitting the wall behind him, only to be stopped as he returned the favor. While he was waiting for targets to aim for with the Colt, he was shooting instinctively with the Sig as he saw even the barest flickers of movement. Warily he continued searching for shadows until the silence and apparent absence of life within his range convinced him to put his firearms back at his side.

With all immediate threats neutralized, he moved into full battle mode. "Delta two is en route as of now and should be on location in another two minutes, give or take a little as I don't know the conditions. Until then, windows and vents need to be kept as far away as possible. Avoid," he shot twice at a flicker behind a curtain three blocks down, "wasting ammo unless the shots are fairly close-range. If you do need to shoot, aim for the head and backs of the thighs. Their bullet-proof armor only works where it can cover, and it goes around the neck on the lucky ones." Taking a breath, he shifted slightly away from the window on reflex. "I think that's it, but any questions?"

Eagle held a hand up like a schoolchild, bouncing up and down as Alex shrugged out of the heavy white wrap to reveal much more ninja-like attire. Instead of the traditional black, however, he had opted on snug fitting desert camouflage. Two separate grey belts wrapped around his hips, each fitted all the way around with 9mm rounds for hundreds of refills. The usual holster on his ankle was occupied by a new Glock 26 and strapped to his opposite leg was a long tactical combat knife, the latter recently used by the looks of the faint red sheen along the blade's tip.

"What is it?"

"Can you tell Fox to bring us some beers while he's at it, because we've been out here for_ever_ and it would be totally awesome to have one or two or a couple?"

Wolf pinched the top of his nose. Was it even possible for the guy to take anything seriously?

"I doubt it, but you never know," the spy slowly nodded, as if there were something he knew that K-Unit didn't-not that it would be unusual if he did. A set of three shots went off somewhere down the street, each immediately after the other. Alex tensed to fire but quickly relaxed after the final shot. "That's the signal." He left the way he came in, shouting back, "Go out the east entrance."

Snake and Wolf shared a look that spoke volumes, among them being, "Is he _always_ like this?" and each hoisted one of Falcon's arms across their shoulders. He hissed at the flare of pain that ran through his ankle and up his spine, but managed to limp with them practically dragging him along. Eagle bounced happily after them, searching his deep pockets for more stun grenades as he covered their retreat with his Beretta.

While there was some difficulty involving Falcon in the stairwell, he survived-albeit painfully-to make it out the door Alex had directed them to.

Once there, the two spies waved at them from the roofless truck they had quite obviously stolen/hijacked/"borrowed" or whatever adjective the two were currently using to describe the illegal means by which they had come into possession of it.

Incredibly, it would also appear that Fox had managed to "find" a sub-machine gun, as evidenced by the Uzi lying conveniently next to him in the passenger seat.

"Hey! You guys look like you're enjoying the sun, but you know how us spies are with work and the like."

"Damn, your snarky comments have rubbed off on the padawan, Cub."

"Oh I was under the impression that it came with the package, but anything's possible with me."

Ben looked irked. "I'm still here, you know."

With a quick spin, Alex whipped around in shock to peer at his partner. "When did you get here?"

"Don't make me smack you."

"Only if you can catch me," he grinned back. The teenager turned back to K-Unit. "There should be enough room in the back for everyone, and Snake can sit up in front with Ben."

"Why me?" Snake demanded. "Falcon's the injured one."

"You would trust throwing knives over your gun, and I'm trusting everyone in the back to be able to shoot. Falcon's ankle won't prevent him from that."

"But…" He had a good point, the soldier admitted to himself. "All right, but if any of you gets hurt back there, don't come crying to me."

Fox clapped a hand on his shoulder when he hopped in the vacated passenger seat. "Alex has a perfect record so far. I doubt he'll let one little SAS unit ruin that."

"I get it, but I still get this wary feeling that something's not right here."

"The feeling's mutual, but I trust Alex to sort whatever it is out while I concentrate on driving us outta this hellhole."

From the back, the teen was the first to jump in. Wolf and Eagle were helping Falcon up as Alex was getting him the rest of the way. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he turned the safety off on the gun he'd never holstered. "Get down, _now_!" he screamed back at them, pulling Falcon in and pushing him to the ground.

It was only then that the bullets began to spray the ground, coming seemingly out of nowhere to send them scattering in all directions.

Ben and Snake had dropped down to the floor to protect themselves as the broken glass fell from the driver side window.

During a break in the fire, Alex rolled under the truck to come out on his partner's side. He crouched by the door and whispered to Ben, "Give me some cover," before sprinting to a far off point he had determined the shooter to be roughly located at.

"No, Alex!" he yelled back, before swearing under his breath and snatching the Uzi from where he'd stashed it. "Wolf, Eagle! Get your butts in the back this second before I leave you! Snake, switch me seats and watch for that glass."

Snake took over the driving as Ben clicked off the safety on his sub-machine gun and put the only surviving window out of its misery with the butt of the Uzi. "Follow him, but leave me a couple meters to work with."

Eagle had just scrambled into the back, landing haphazardly on top of Wolf before rolling off, when Snake took the truck from zero to sixty in seconds. Needless to say that Eagle let out a decidedly girly shriek as he gripped the sides of the back to hold on for dear life. Moments later however, he could be heard over the engine yelling, "Faster, faster!" At least he acclimates quickly, Wolf sighed.

Ben was giving their driver directions as he leaned out the window. When Alex came into view, running as he tried getting the sniper into his own shooting range, he fired a full round directly into the sand five meters in front of the teen. Immediately, sand and dust came up to envelope him.

"What the hell was _that_?" Wolf demanded from the back, having not been able to hear as he gave the details of the plan to Snake.

"You can't run at a sniper without cover," he explained, yelling to be heard over the thrum of the engine. "Even as a moving target, that's suicide. So when ever he reappears, I shoot in front of Alex to give him the advantage. See," Ben pointed out to the now-empty expanse of desert. "Snake is going to keep us near the buildings where it's harder to get a good shot out."

From out of nowhere, Alex was suddenly visible again. Now that he had evidently found the target, he was taking shots with his Sig. With the sniper still holding his own fire, Ben released another burst of cover.

The sounds of fire stopped entirely from both sides as the dust took its time clearing. When it finally did, Alex had already taken the advantage and sprinted until the gleam of silver in the sun gave him a spot to aim for. He stopped to get off a clean shot and the invisible sniper took the same opportunity. Two shots resounded simultaneously, and none followed.

Ben rammed his door open and ran across the field, already knowing that Alex wouldn't miss the shot but worried that the sniper might have given him one in return. He skidded to a halt as he felt a hand grab his foot. "Help me get up," the teen asked from where he was sprawled, and his partner was happy to oblige him. Alex swayed lightly on his feet, holding one side of his head as Ben held him steady. "Ahh, I'm really dizzy, but I got 'im, Ben."

"Yeah, I know you did. Now let's see if Snake can take a look at you."

"Ben, 'm fine. He jus' got a lucky…luc…"

Seeing the thin line of blood that trickled out from beneath Alex's hand on his head, he ignored his stuttering and picked the teenager up in a bridal-style carry. Taking note in the back of his mind that he was much too light for his age and height, he carried him quickly back to the truck. "Snake, give me some help! Wolf, get the engine going and Eagle, make sure no one's on our tail."

Wolf switched spots with Snake, who got out to help Ben lift Alex into the back. "Is he-"

"He got a lucky shot off is all," Alex mumbled from where Snake propped him up.

"Lucky shot, nothing. You must've turned reflexively just as the bullet hit you. The lucky one was you, in this case. It scraped right past your temple, possibly giving you a minor concussion from the sudden force of impact." He turned to speak to Ben, "Don't let him fall asleep. It could make the concussion worse."

"I don' have a concuss…con…"

"Mmhmm. Obviously." Ben answered Snake, "I'll keep him up. Tell Wolf to go north of here for the base. We have a chopper waiting for us to get back and from there I'm going to need to contact MI6. Seeing as how this mission was completely unauthorized, it should be fun trying to convince them not to kill the two of us…well me at the very least."

"Unauthorized?" Wolf spoke up from the front, but keeping his eyes carefully on the road in front of him. "Didn't MI6 and the CIA send you guys here?"

Ben chuckled. "That's what he told you, was it? Sneaky little bastard." He shifted as Alex let his head fall comfortably against his partner's shoulder. "We heard you guys were being shipped into the area, and Alex had the brilliant idea to do some inside work in case you needed backup. However he's on loan to the CIA for the next two months, so through a couple loopholes and multiple accounts of blackmail-that even I have to be impressed by-he got the mission approved through them.

"MI6 wasn't so happy, however, about letting him into a war zone." He ruffled Alex's hair as he recalled the shocking conversation (a.k.a. yelling match) over the phone between the head of MI6 and his partner. "Somehow, he convinced Blunt to let me accompany him at a distance in case things went sour. I'm kind of praying that I'll even have a job by tomorrow morning. They'd never let Alex go, but I'm not nearly as important."

"He did all that for us?" Wolf asked softly. "Why?"

"I always repay my debts," Alex answered just as quietly, "especially the important ones."

* * *

A/N: Did you like it? Somehow, this story just came out as being shorter than _Safehouse_. I'll post a sequel the same way as I did for _Safehouse_, but I don't know how long it will take to get it posted.

_**IMPORTANT NOTICE:**_ This huge ice storm is coming through and knocking down power lines as it gets heavier. In the next three hours, all electricity will likely be down in my area, so both my twin (_NightmareWorld_) and I are shutting everything down before it reaches us. When the power comes back up, we'll begin posting again. We're putting this notice on our stories so that you wonderful people don't think we died or something.

Thanks so much for the reviews, and I'll have the sequel up ASAP! If you have any other ideas for me to write on, send me a PM and I'll look it over. Thanks again for understanding. ~ SamayouTamashi


	3. Chapter 3

Finale of _Favor_. The electricity and heat are back up, so I am temporarily leaving my bunker to bring this to you. Thanks for following, R&R, and if you have any candles or blankets, send them to me because we need more! ~ SamayouTamashi

* * *

He woke to the sound of helicopter blades rushing above him and a gentle, warm presence beneath his head. A hand passed through his hair as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. As he stretched and slowly sat up-so as not to aggravate his pounding head-he also felt the hand resting loosely around his wrist disappear. "Feeling better, Alex?" That must have been Ben he'd felt then.

"Yeah, but where are we exactly?"

Ben asked one of the other people he couldn't identify yet the location, and the answer came back to him. "We just passed over the Turkey/Iran border. We're boarding a plane to get to London once we land in Geneva, Switzerland."

"Awesome." A second, and somewhat worrisome, thought came to mind immediately following the first. "What did MI6 say when you called them?"

Alex felt Ben tense and relax again. "Jones has resigned. She told Blunt that if he can't keep his agents safe, then he should be retiring too. Her original employers offered her back her old job, and Mrs. Jones agreed so fast they never knew what hit them."

"MI5, I assume?"

"Right on. I believe her exact words to Blunt were, 'While they might be sons of bitches too scared to even let their spies leave the continent, at least they keep them safe.'"

Sitting the rest of the way up, and avoiding the nagging tingle under the gauze wrapped around his head, he shook his head. "I knew she was quite a character but…I would never have guessed."

Across the room from the spies, another voice piped up, "Guess your number two now, eh?"

Snake, he recalled as some of the fuzzy memories came back. "That's right. Oh god, I bet that means more paperwork, doesn't it?" While Alex had a fairly nice office, he was almost never there and tended to avoid the documents demanding his signature and immediate attention. Maybe, he thought, I could pay someone to go through all that for me. They could forge my signature and everything.

Ben could read his mind, apparently. "And why would you care if you got more paperwork? You hide from it anyway so nothing would change."

"But at least I can get into my office for now. Any more of those evil things and I'll be climbing into my office via the ceiling."

The two were laughing as Wolf stepped through the cockpit door. "Looks like Sleeping Beauty's awake. How was that lovely sleep, hmm?"

If looks could kill, Wolf would have been deader than most corpses. "Ben, can you hand me a gun," he asked coolly with a blank stare. "Call in pest control while you're at it."

"Please don't go at each other while we're in the air, Alex. He's just moody because the last time you two were in the same plane, you were the one to kick him out of it."

"Am not!" K-Unit's 'fearless' leader yelled back.

"Says the guy avoiding all the doors on here like the plague," Alex chuckled evilly.

"I-I'm going to check on the pilot," Wolf retorted with a slight stutter before leaving the small cabin.

At this point, Ben was holding his head in his hands. "Will you two never get along in normal situations? I have to stick you guys in a full-out battle before you agree on anything."

The medic nodded wisely. Snake had never seen them _not_ irritate each other unless their lives depended on cooperation. That would be the day, to see them friendly towards each other. It would likely be the day, he figured, right before the apocalypse.

Alex sighed, also agreeing with his partner as he mentally slapped his hand away from the itching spot on the side of his head. "How's Falcon doing?" he asked, nodding towards the prone figure lying beside Snake. The soldier's leg had been propped up on a pillow and someone had covered him with their camouflage jacket. A line from the IV rack attached to the wall next to Falcon trailed down to connect with the arm that wasn't covered up.

"He didn't lose much blood, but I was worried that when he said his ankle was going numb that he might lose the bottom piece of his leg altogether. I got some fluids in him and he seems to be coming along better than I could have imagined. After some rest and physical therapy, I can almost guarantee him a full recovery. Why do you ask?"

His face flushed in shame. "When I was undercover, I was partnered with an older terrorist from the sniper unit. Salim was the one who shot Falcon, and I couldn't stop him without blowing my cover then and there." What he meant to say was that he would have been killed on the spot.

"It's okay, no harm done. Falcon would be happy to know that you cared," Snake murmured.

"I… I know, but I still wish I'd done something. I could have done something, but… I didn't. I just saw him go down and hoped he wouldn't slow the rest of you down." He leaned heavily back against the cold metal walls of the helicopter cabin.

"Doesn't make it your fault," Snake informed him. "You aren't invincible and you aren't all powerful. Everything bad that happens isn't your fault, so get used to it. We all feel that if we'd been a little faster or thought of something sooner that we could have changed the outcome, but the truth is that some things are out of our hands. The sooner you understand, the sooner you'll feel better."

Alex contemplated this and nodded. "Feeling like a philosopher today, Snake?"

"Don't push your luck, kid."

Laughter flooded the cabin once again.

"I just realized this," Alex thought aloud with a pensive look, "but I think Ben is only the second person to partner with me and live."

Dread filled his still-living partner. "I'm sorry, but did I miss something important here?"

"Well, when I teamed up with the CIA the first time, the two agents acting as husband and wife were both killed by this crazy maniac. The second time I worked for the CIA, I partnered up with Tamara, who actually lived through the experience. My godfather betrayed me and _then_ was shot and killed. Rahim was shot by another lunatic trying to take over the world, and then you already heard about the supposed Russian leak*. He was killed not long after the mafia heads."

"On the other hand," he looked over at a somewhat mortified Ben, "Tamara and Rahim might not really count since they entered fairly late in the game."

"There must be a curse placed on all your partners," Snake said with a chuckle. "Try not to kill off Ben, if you would be so kind."

"I try so hard, but they all end up shot or impaled while I seem to have the luck of the devil. Truly, it's a miracle that I'm still alive. So far, anyway." Alex smiled to imply that he was joking.

"Maybe I should retire while I still can," Ben muttered under his breath, looking a little pale at the new information.

Snake shook his head with a grin, though he was horrified at the teenager's admission. What sort of hell was MI6 putting this kid through? It couldn't be legal, could it?

While they had been puzzling over the spy's past, Falcon was stirring. "Whatever's being pumped into me feels wonderful, Snake. Do they bottle this in pill form?" he slurred.

Ever the doctor, Snake looked sharply over his shoulder. "You. If you even try to sit up so help me you will be comatose until that leg looks better than your working one."

Holding his hands up in defeat, Falcon looked over at Alex. "See what we have to put up with? This isn't even a life-threatening wound. Wolf was working with a separate unit for awhile and when he came back with a bullet in his shoulder," Alex's eye twitched as he recalled Wolf pushing him out of the way, "Snake wouldn't let him off the painkillers until the stitches came out. If he so much as twitched a finger, this guy was telling him to quit aggravating his shoulder."

"That's an exaggeration and you know it," Snake glared at him.

Falcon grinned at his slip. "Note how he says exaggeration and doesn't even try denying that the event took place."

"Go back to sleep before I put you there myself."

"You wouldn't hurt your mortally injured comrade, would you?" Falcon knew he was pushing all of the medic's buttons and enjoyed it much more than he should have.

As the two playfully bickered-playful on Falcon's side at least-Alex stood up shakily, leaning carefully against the wall. Ben glanced up at him but knew from experience that it would be best to pretend that he hadn't seen anything. Best to let him recover on his own than try to help and get your head ripped off.

Knowing that Snake would have treated him the same as Falcon if he hadn't been as distracted by his teammate as he was, Alex stealthily made it to the cockpit making sure to stay out of the medic's line of sight. The door shut almost silently behind him, helped by the noisy engine.

"What're you doin' here?" a gruff voice asked, startling him from his reverie.

"Ahh," he spun around to see Wolf leaning in the doorway next to where the pilot was seated. "Sorry, forgot you were back here. I'll leave-"

"You're fine. Plenty of room here for the both of us, I'm sure." Something was off in Wolf's demeanor, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"Heights?" he assumed.

"Part of it," came the hesitant explanation.

A comfortable silence fell between them. Alex relaxed and let himself slide back down to the floor as he leaned against the wall. His eyes slid shut as the tension he'd pent up inside began to settle down. With the fading of the adrenaline, all that was left over were the regrets and weariness. The recklessness, skill and surety of MI6's Agent Rider were abandoned to reveal a tired teenager with a tendency to distance himself from those around him and wariness towards trusting anyone.

"Stress?" Wolf had seen the masks of Agent Rider slide off, and when his eyes opened, it was the teenage Alex he was looking at and the eyes of an aged veteran he met without hesitation.

"Part of it."

There was a mutual trust between them that could only pass between those who were enemies on the outside and comrades at heart. It was a trust that said nothing taking place in this secluded area would ever be revealed to anyone else.

Alex pulled his legs in to rest his head on top of them. He didn't let his emotions bubble up to the top often, but when they did, it was only then that he ever relaxed completely. Even Jack was wary to wake him up in the mornings for school anymore. At her suggestion, he had moved to using an alarm clock for the days where he wasn't suffering from the constant nightmares keeping him from sleeping.

The situation was almost identical to Wolf. Barely two months ago, he had watched every member of his unit (with the exception of Falcon) get shot within a handful of seconds. Had they not been wearing the Kevlar beneath their shirts, his entire unit would have been killed that night. As he went from base to base, taking on terrorist cells in the Middle East one by one, the need to protect his unit from harm had only increased with time. As the stress built up he felt ready to explode.

Yet, as he had heard Snake say, there are some things that are just out of your hands. Nothing you do can stop them from happening despite the effort you throw at the problem.

And then Alex came, appeared on the balcony to take the problems right out of his hands and place them all upon himself, the same tiny teenager he saw slowly secluding himself more with each passing hour. It was like watching himself in a twisted sort of carnival mirror.

Watching his 'mirror,' he let himself release his worries into the stillness. Wolf closed his eyes and let out a calming breath. Feeling better than he had these last few weeks, he left the peace to check on Falcon. Even if there was nothing he could do, at least he could reassure himself. He left, but not without a hesitant glance behind him.

* * *

Snake was ready to wring his patient's neck when Wolf entered the cabin. It was nearly disturbing that someone who'd just had two bullets in his ankle could be this bouncy already. Eagle was beginning to rub off on the new recruit a little too much for his comfort.

"Wolf, tell him that if he doesn't stop moving around that his IV is going to fall out and I'm not going to be merciful in putting back in place."

Wolf turned solemnly to Falcon. "If you don't stop moving around, I'm afraid that I will be hiding with the pilot until he's thoroughly killed you and tossed your body off this helicopter."

Falcon decided that it might be time to stop his antics. "I can't help it. It's so funny to watch him get frustrated."

"True, but you won't be thinking that the next time he gets to bandage you up."

The new recruit paled at the thought and made the wise decision that he was tired and needed rest.

Alex walked back in several minutes after, and Wolf could see the mask zipped back up tightly around him to put Agent Rider back in place of the youth he had glimpsed earlier. "Did everyone miss me?"

Wolf snorted. "Yeah, Sleeping Beauty. We were all over ourselves with grief that we couldn't see you."

The eye twitch was back. "If you call me that again, I'll be kicking your sorry butt out another plane."

"I'd like to see you try that, _princess_."

"Oh you would, would you?"

Ben was in between them once again, keeping each from tearing out the other's throat. "Now, now. Let's not dissolve into a mindless bunch of kindergarteners for the sake of my sanity."

"Speaking of kindergarteners," Alex frowned, "where's Eagle?"

"Uh," a glance passed between Wolf, Snake and Ben, "the pilot had some caffeine on him."

"So we kinda…er…might've locked him in the storage below the chopper," Snake added.

Alex pinched his nose as the twitch came back to his eye. Kindergarteners, the whole lot of them.

* * *

A/N: Once more, a helluva ride for me from beginning to end! Sorry about the confusing bounces between viewpoints, but I really couldn't do the story without it like this. I wanted the end of _Favor_ to be a conclusion to both _Safehouse_ and _Favor_.

An extra note: I'm thinking of doing an AR/NCIS crossover because the two would mix perfectly together in my opinion. Ironically, my twin is looking at an FMA/NCIS crossover that looks to be just as awesome as my own brewing ideas and the two are looking more and more similar the further we plan into them. (Being twins is hell for our creativity, I tell you...) Anyone in support of these, please send us support so we can work on them while this damn ice storm continues to wreck havoc with our electricity and internet connections.

Thanks for following me all the way and keep an eye out for the new stuff!

*This refers back to _Safehouse_, in case you're confused. The rest were straight out of the books. I even double-checked to make sure I had remembered all the names correctly.


End file.
